Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2015, the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival is set to take over the city, June 18 to July 1. Bringing some of music’s most well-known edge-pushers, mainstayers and international ambassadors to Vancouver, the event features performances by some 1,800 artists – ranging from jazz, funk and Latin to fusion and world music – at 300-plus concert venues across the city.

Canada Post was the first out of the gate. The Crown Corporation began airing its commercials for the holiday season sometime back in August, it seems (though it was probably closer to the middle of November). Then Starbucks started playing Christmas music to go along with their eggnog lattes. And now December is upon us and the holiday concert season is in full swing.

Here are a few choices coming this month in Vancouver, from the traditional to the decidedly non-traditional, including a burlesque take on the Nutcracker and an annual salute to the unsinkable Keith Richards.

What do more than 100 live bands crammed into the space of three city blocks sound like?

Pretty amazing. Make Music Vancouver, the event that transforms city streets into an outdoor stage for literally hundreds of local bands, is back, June 25. This year, Gastown’s Water Street will once again be blocked to traffic and serve as the setting for the free, crowd-sourced music festival.

Maybe you’ve heard of a little something called the Sasquatch! Festival? Happens every Memorial Day long weekend at the Gorge Amphitheatre down south in Washington State. Well, whether you have or haven’t, all you really need to know is that the three-day annual event brings a bounty of acts north of the border for Vancouver music fans to check out.

This year is no exception, as the city’s clubs and bars will be stuffed full of great talent over the weekend (especially Friday and Saturday). Heck, if someone was smart and more organized, he or she might even organize a mini-festival around all the bands that come here every time around this year. Maybe for 2015? Anyway, here’s a guide to what’s happening. You’ll have no excuse to not see some incredible music!

For years, a little ticket booth tucked away near the Vancouver waterfront has been offering some of the best deals on concerts, theatre, musicals and comedy in the city. Tickets Tonight, located inside the Tourism Vancouver Visitor Centre (200 Burrard St.), is the region’s only outlet for half-price, day-of ticket sales.

You know what they say – April showers bring May shows. This year is no exception, but things really peak on the weekend of May 23-25. That’s when the annual Sasquatch Music Festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington State brings hundreds of bands to the Pacific Northwest for our own (potentially rainy) Coachella.

So if you’re in Vancouver that weekend, you’ll have options galore – some of the bands playing that weekend include Waxahatchee, (Vancouver’s own) Pink Mountaintops, City and Colour, Brody Dalle, Cut Copy, Chet Faker, Haim (alas, sold-out), Banks, Parquet Floors, Lana Del Ray, and Mogwai. For that weekend’s selection in our six must-see May concerts, we picked – well, see below.

Inside Vancouver is a multi-author blog, written by Vancouverites about Vancouver. Our goal is to give an insider’s view of Vancouver, to provide information, stories and opinions from the locals’ perspective about this great city.